Ventura track owner aims to appease neighbors with quieter go-karts

Chuck Kirman/The Star
Karts from Jim Hall Kart Racing School round the track at full speed as Ventura County Fair board members attend a noise check Thursday. Neighbors want to get rid or move the operation.

The kart racing track at the Ventura County Fairgrounds has installed silencers that its owner says halve go-kart noise, but that might not be enough for the neighbors.

On Thursday, Jim Hall, owner of Jim Hall Kart Racing School, demonstrated for the Ventura County Fair's board of directors the silencers that are mounted on the engine exhaust system. Hall rents a corner of the parking lot from the fairgrounds, which is owned by the state but governed by a local board.

A few residents from the nearby Beachfronter apartment complex listened during the demonstration. They have complained to the fair board and the Ventura City Council about noise from the track. The ones who were there Thursday said that even with the silencers, the go-karts are too loud.

The fair board will meet again in two weeks to decide whether to extend Hall's lease. He is operating under one that expired Dec. 31.

Dr. Robert Sterling, an emergency-room physician who lives at the Beachfronter, spoke to the board on behalf of what he said is a strong majority of the complex's residents. He said the silencers make the buzz of the go-karts more bearable but that the noise is still harming his quality of life and that of his neighbors. The solution is to move the racetrack to another spot on the fairgrounds or decline to renew the lease, he said.

"We appreciate the efforts he's made, but the net effect has been insufficient," Sterling said.

Fairgrounds CEO Barbara Quaid said she's looked at the option of moving the track from its current spot but she hasn't found anywhere else that's available.

"We have events on the fairgrounds all the time," she said. "There isn't any space that's just waiting for a full-time business."

Hall runs his go-karts — the variety that prompted noise complaints — from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays through Mondays. The vehicles start and stop during those hours, for a total of about two running hours per day, Hall said.

There are plenty of other noises in the area, some of them louder than the track: Highway 101, passing trains and other fairgrounds events, including full-size race cars. But many Beachfronter residents say the buzz of karts racing has pushed them over the edge.

"There's a constant buzzing noise," when the go-karts are running, said Scott Smith, a filmmaker and video editor who works from his apartment at the Beachfronter. "There are times when it gets loud and I just have to stop working."

When first measured last year, they registered 72 decibels from the Beachfronter apartments. Hall measured them Thursday at 65 decibels. The decibel scale is logarithmic, so the difference amounts to cutting the sound about in half.

Hall said he would consider using a different type of go-kart engine, if necessary, to cut the noise even further. On Thursday, he demonstrated the alternative go-kart, which had a four-stroke engine with a lower tone, like that of a souped-up lawn mower.

Go-karts with four-stroke engines are not standard in the racing industry, in part because they don't perform as well as others, Hall said.

"I would rather not do that," he said. "I would have to convert all my karts to do that, and it would cost tens of thousands of dollars."

Hall said the silencers cost him $300 per go-kart and were put on all 15 racing karts, for a total of $4,500.

About six Beachfronter residents stood outside their building for Thursday's demonstration. They agreed that the go-karts sounded quieter with the silencers installed, though most said they hadn't noticed the difference when Hall made the change about two weeks ago.

The residents all said that even the lower noise level was too high.

"I think a red line has been drawn," Sterling told the board.

Editor's Note: This story has been revised from original version to correct latest noise level measurement. It was 65 decibels.